


Jedi Summer Camp

by SavetheSpaceWhales (awishman)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack, F/M, Jedi Summer Camp, Meilooruns are Melons, When Harry Met Sally Summer Camp Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 07:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18256898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awishman/pseuds/SavetheSpaceWhales
Summary: Inspired by the vignette of the couple that met at summer camp in When Harry Met Sally, this is the story of how Head Counselor Rey meets Head Counselor Ben.





	Jedi Summer Camp

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE When Harry Met Sally. My favorite of all the interludes where the older couples share their "how we got together stories" is the summer camp story. You can see the interludes [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guinBnWWuKE&t=3s)
> 
> Be sure to check out this modern retelling of When Harry Met Sally [Doing The Unstuck](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15877074/chapters/36993807)  
> and
> 
> this one-shot based on the Nine Extra Floors Couple's story [We Never Met](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18215471)
> 
> Thanks as always to [theselittlethings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theselittlethings) for being a kind and generous beta.

Rey was the head counselor at the Girls Jedi Camp. While she outwardly acknowledged that splitting the camps into an arbitrary gender binary was silly, she was inwardly proud of her status. She had worked very hard to prove herself trustworthy and responsible for the position. She was grateful to Master Mara who had appointed her.

Being head counselor meant overseeing the day to day activities of the camp, which were designed to be a balance of skill and team building activities paired with leisure. Rey was also responsible for disciplinary issues that came about. Rey’s favorite part of her job was planning the extracurricular activities: bonfires, camp outs, swimming, and socials.  She tried to offer a variety of options so that all personality types and species could have something they really enjoyed.

This standard week’s evening entertainment was a social. She even worked with Master Mara to invite the Boys Jedi Camp to the event. Hopefully everyone would welcome the opportunity to mix up their usual groups, to see old friends, and to make new ones. Rey had taken the hosting duties seriously and coordinated with all the other girls in her camp so that decorations, music and (the most important part in her mind) refreshments were well in hand.

The decorations were simple and intentionally non-romantic.  _ Everyone  _ was intelligent enough to respect that heterosexual pairings were nothing special and that the arbitrary gender division of the camp had nothing to do with feelings or sex, just Luke and Mara’s idea of “fun.” The Decorations Sub-Council had decided to go with an aquatic theme, very popular among the Mon Cala, Quarren, and Gungan campers.

The music would be curated by the (you guessed it) Music Sub-Council, chaired by Bazine who promised to heavily feature classics by her favorite artist: Max Rebo. (A recent remix of his work had taken the galaxy by storm thanks to the wild success of a biopic called  _ From the Bottom of my Fluid Sac  _ featuring Rebo’s associate Sy Snootles.)

Rey had appointed herself head of the Refreshments Sub-Council because food was incredibly important to her and she wanted to make sure that the spread would be worthwhile. She wanted every camper of every species to have a treat. Rey made sure to include her personal favorites: space waffles and meiloorun. She didn’t think it was an abuse of her power to include them, she knew other campers enjoyed them as well. 

The evening of the social, Rey helped prepare the food herself. She greedily eyed the meiloorun and noted how the orange and yellow rind promised succulent melon underneath. Her mouth watered just eyeing them. If anything happened this evening that was even half as enjoyable as eating meiloorun was going to be, she was in for a hell of a night.

________________________________________________________

Ben Solo was head counselor at the Boys Jedi Camp. After years of ignoring his mother’s pleas that he attend his uncle’s Jedi camp ( _ A Summer Retreat Where the Force is Neat!  _ the ads promised) Ben found himself not only attending the camp, but being named head counselor. He not-so-secretly resented the title and the job, but Uncle Luke insisted Ben had earned it, and no, -- it was not because he owed Leia money. More secretly, Ben thought Luke’s notions of dividing the Jedi based on something as random as gender was as antiquated as stratifying the campers into head counselor and junior counselors. He gave up trying to talk Luke into any kind of meaningful change a while ago. 

Ben was quiet and kept to himself, a rare trait for someone in a leadership position among so many youth from across the galaxy. His reticence was broken when needed -- breaking up a dispute, for example. There was a red-haired jerk who was always getting into shouting matches with others who hated Ben and his interventions at this point in the summer. But for the most part, Ben’s silent leadership allowed others to really grow and thrive, and Ben was only too pleased to have others step up. It meant less attention on him.

Being solitary by nature, Ben was dreading the event that evening: a social, hosted by the Girls Jedi Camp. He had overheard a group of guys hoping to meet some “ladieeez” (they called themselves the Knights of Ren, and Ben had nearly hurt himself rolling his eyes because Force, how stupid could you get?) but the point of the social was... socializing. Which is  _ why _ Ben was dreading it. The best he could hope for was that the music wouldn’t be insufferable and he could find a corner to hide himself in. 

Ben sighed. At least it was only one evening, he would manage. He heard Gungi and Jacen guffawing and caught a snatch of dialogue involving a flask and decided instantly he had heard  _ nothing _ . Ben sighed again. He was in for a hell of a night.

___________________________________________________________

Rey surveyed the social from her spot at the food table and smiled to herself. She was pleased with what she saw. There were groups dancing enthusiastically, others standing around talking and enjoying the food. The aquatic decorations looked pretty  _ good  _ actually, and the food was lasting. 

Rey made eye contact with Bazine, who was in charge of the evening’s playlist. They exchanged smiles. Despite the blatantly a-romantic tone of the social, Bazine had been approached by a variety of males, females, and non-binary individuals of sundry species to dance. Rey noted Bazine’s striking features and feline-like movements and wasn’t surprised. Bazine was one of those people who caught your eye. 

Just then Rey felt a tingling sensation, like she was being watched. She cast her eyes around the room to try to find out who was watching, but didn’t make any eye contact with anyone. She did notice someone, her gaze resting on him for a moment before returning to look at him after she scanned the room. Rey’s eyes took in a large form, though it was hunched over in what appeared to be an attempt to be smaller. His face was unusual, but undeniably pleasing and his hair was long (down to his shoulders) and dark. 

He looked up and Rey was embarrassed to be caught staring. Her lips formed a small smile, and she felt her face heating. His face turned red, but his expression did not otherwise alter. Rey looked away.  _ Shit shit shit.  _ Looking for a distraction, she put together a small plate and took it over to Bazine. 

_____________________________________________________

Ben found his quiet corner. He sat folded in on himself, trying to take up as little space and garner as little attention as possible. He looked over at the food table again, like he had been surreptitiously doing all night. He had noticed  _ her  _ right away. Tall and slender, with brown hair and freckles. He couldn’t tell what color her eyes were, because he didn’t want to be caught gawking at her from across the room like a nerfherder, but he really wanted to find out. This girl was so  _ smiley _ when she was helping serve the food, but she was touched by sadness when she thought no one was looking. Her head was moving in his direction and Ben quickly put his down.

Ben felt a prickling at the back of his neck. He glanced up and found himself staring directly at the object of his heretofore secret observation. Ben felt a blush cover his face, starting at his ears (which were thankfully hidden under his hair— his mom was wrong, long hair  _ was  _ the right choice for him) and covering his face and neck.  _ Karabast, she was smiling at him!  _  Ben tried smiling back but she wasn’t looking at him anymore. 

Before he could reason himself out of it, Ben decided he was done watching this girl from a distance. He was going to go talk to her. 

____________________________________________________________  
  


When she reached Bazine’s side, Rey noticed she wasn’t the only one who had decided to see her. The object of her eye fixation was striding over to Bazine now. Force, he  _ was  _ tall, his long legs covering the length of the room quickly. Rey handed the food to Bazine and moved to go back to the table quickly. Despite herself, she felt a twinge of envy. Of course he would cross the room to talk to Bazine. People were always crossing rooms to talk to Bazine. 

Rey turned to leave them to it when she felt a light touch on her arm. She spun around, surprised to see him standing in front of her. He hadn’t crossed the room to talk to Bazine. He was coming to talk to  _ her. _

Rey smiled shyly and peeked up at him. His face was still red and he looked nervous.

“I’m Ben Solo, of the Chandrila Solos.” His voice was quiet but deep, and he extended his hand towards her. 

Rey held out her hand, their fingertips just touching.

She felt a jolt of energy, a happy thrill of the Force. Images flashed in her mind -- it must have been quickly, but she remembered each of them, solid and clear: Ben Solo of the Chandrila Solos and Rey fighting back-to-back against a common enemy. Ben kneeling in front of her as she stood above him. Ben and Rey building a life together, growing old together. Rey saw these images in an instant. From the dumbstruck look on his face, Ben had experienced something similar. 

Rey saw it all, and she  _ knew.  _

She knew the same way she knew about a good meiloorun.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> If you want to learn more about [Meiloorun](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Meiloorun_fruit)
> 
> You can find me on Twitter [@AmyWishman](https://twitter.com/AmyWishman)


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